The next two days were spent with Casimir.

Noah rose bright and early every morning, leaving his parents a note of his whereabouts before heading down to the park. They stayed there for hours on end talking and laughing, and Noah began to feel as though things were going back to normal.

On some occasions, wherein they lay side by side looking up at the sky as darkness neared, or when they would hug each other tight, Noah would have to remind himself not to do what he most desired. Because Casimir was straight and if there was one thing Noah didn't need to do right now was ruin their friendship, the one good thing he had going for himself at the moment.

As Noah woke on the third day, however, he felt something other than excitement swirling in his stomach. Before he had time to comprehend what was happening, he was bounding to the bathroom, barely managing to make it on time to throw up into the toilet bowl.

The next three days weren't so good.

Just when things were starting to look up, life comes and pulls them back down. Like a twisted form of gravity, with a personal vendetta against Noah.

A storm had come, in the shape of a crippling spell of depression and sickness. Though the doctors had warned them this would be a regular occurrence, it didn't ease his parents worried minds in any way.

It all became a blur, as night morphed into day. Noah lay thrown against the toilet, vomiting. He cried for hours, and had spells of fainting, waking up every time more and more confused. Nightmares about the accident, frustration at the fact that the nightmares were a blur.

Tuesday morning rolled around and for the first time in three days, Noah didn't wake up with the immediate urge to vomit.

He spent the day in bed, staring up at the ceiling and cursing his stupid sickness.

This small improvement was actually an indicator, as over the next day or two he recovered, sleeping off his bout of sickness.

On Thursday morning Noah woke feeling relatively normal, and his first thought was that he had to go see Casimir. Picking up his phone, he wrote Cas a quick text to arrange a time and a place.

A knock sounded at his door as he was about to rise out of bed, and Noah croaked out a throaty "come in."

His parents entered the room, his dad carrying a breakfast tray in hand. "You feeling better?" He asked with a small smile, which Noah returned as best he could.

"Yeah, much." He affirmed with a nod. His dad left the tray of food on the nightstand beside him, before both his parents took a seat at the foot of his bed.

"Glad to hear it dear." His mom said, a hopeful smile on her face. Noah was starting to get sick of all the smiling in this house. "Well, rest up today and you'll probably right as rain tomorrow."

Noah nodded, before stopping himself. "Wait, I've got plans today actually."

His mother cast a worried look across to his father, before turning to face him again. "Noah honey, I'm sorry but that's just not happening."

"I've got plans," he repeated. "With Casimir."

If his mother looked worried before, she was now positively alarmed. "Noah.." she began, looking over at her husband desperately, willing for him to say something. He too, however, seemed to be at a loss for words.

At this stage Noah was getting annoyed. What weren't they telling him. "What is it?" He spat out, standing up out of the bed and disregarding the breakfast tray completely.

"Hey Noah, calm down." His dad said, trying to persuade him gently though Noah could see the alarm on his face.

"Don't tell me not to calm down. You don't have that right. Neither of you do. Maybe if someone told me what the fuck was going on then I'd be calm. Maybe if I didn't feel so fucking alienated all the time, like I'm some unstable kid that everyone pities but nobody knows how to act around."

Noah didn't realize how angry he had become until he heard how much his voice had raised. He looked down at his hands, balling them into fists in an attempt to stop them from shaking.

His parents were completely at a loss for words at this stage, their mouth opening and closing but not making any sounds. Before they had time to start talking, stormed out of the room.

Grabbing some clothes from the hot press down stairs, he got changed at record speed before storming out of the house and heading towards the park.

Once at their spot, he checked the time on his phone. He had asked Casimir to meet at 12:30. It was now only 12:15, meaning Noah had at least quarter of an hour to himself.

He placed back and forwards in the small clearing, tugging at his hair in frustration. The guilt would come later, but for now all he could feel towards his parents was frustration.

Why did they have to treat him like a fucking child? Always skirting around him, smiling every time they made eye contact with him. As if he would fall apart if they showed anything other than overbearing positivity in his presence.

He let out a noise of frustration, closing his eyes and forcing himself to take deep breaths.

"Someone's stressed."

Noah almost jumped out of his skin at the sound of Casimir's voice. He opened his eyes and was met with the sight of Casimir looking at him, his head cocked to the side and his expression a combination of curiosity, amusement, and concern.

Noah ran a hand down his face, shooting Casimir a deadpan look. "What gave me away?" He drawled, resorting to the sarcasm that was usually Casimir's forte.

Casimir's eyes twinkled with amusement at Noah's use of sarcasm. "Your parents?" He asked, his voice more sympathetic than anything.

"Yeah." Noah sighed, though it did strike Noah as odd that Casimir knew straight away what his problem was. "You're early." He said, pointing out the rare but obvious.

"That I am." Casimir stated, offering no further explanation.

"Weird." Noah commented, shrugging it off. "Didn't know you knew how to be early."

"Wow, you're just full of wit today Noah boy." Casimir said, laughing softly.

The sound was music to Noah's ears.

Casimir stepped closer to Noah and pulled him into a hug, and Noah felt the tension leave his body at Casimir's touch.

"Thanks." He breathed out into the crook of Casimir's neck. Cas always seems to know how to calm him down.

Casimir just squeezed him tighter to show he heard, and when they finally broke the hug Noah felt his heartbeat quicken. They were so close that Noah could feel Casimir's hot breath fanning across his face, see all of his eyelashes.

Four inches. There couldn't have been more than four inches between their lips and Noah knew that if he wanted to, he could lean in right now and kiss Casimir. In theory at least. In reality, that could possibly be the worst thing he could do.

Reluctantly he began to pull away, forcing himself not to look at Casimir's lips. No need to punish himself further.

If Casimir had thought anything of their little moment, he didn't voice it. Instead, he followed Noah to a fallen tree trunk, sitting alongside Noah on the ground. Their backs rested against the tree trunk as a means of support.

"Wanna tell me what happened?" Casimir asked with a tone of sympathy in his voice.

"It's just.. it's like I know they're trying their best. I really do, and I appreciate it. But it's like their walking on eggshells around me, and it makes me feel like some glass figurine. Like they're afraid I'm going to smash into a thousand pieces if they're not constantly trying to put me in a good mood."

"Must be tough." Casimir said, placing a comforting hand on Noah's arm.

Noah tried to slow his beating heart at Casimir's touch. Cas is straight. He repeated the words over and over in his head, like a mantra to keep him grounded.

"It's like they want me to be the person I was six months ago. Before everything happened. They can't seem to understand that that boy is gone, and he's not coming back. Dad keeps bringing up going to a football match together. Cas, I haven't watched a football game in half a year. I don't care about football anymore. They're trying to bring back the old me, and I wish they'd just fucking accept that I'm a new person."

"It's okay Noah. Or at least it will be." Casimir soothed gently, and Noah subconsciously angled his body to face the other boy. "You should try being honest with them. Explain to them that you've changed, and that they need to accept that. It may take time, but that's what I'm here for. You may have changed, but you're still their Noah. You're still my Noah."

My Noah

The words rang in Noah's ears, leaving him with a dizzying feeling of disbelief and glee.

My Noah.

He forced himself not to read too much into Casimir's words. He knew that Casimir meant those words in the most platonic way, but that didn't stop his cheeks from burning. My Noah.

"Are you blushing?" Casimir said with a laugh, and Noah averted his eyes furiously to the ground.

"No."

"Are you sure?" Casimir sang, sounding way to amused for Noah's liking.

"Oh shut up." Noah snapped with embarrassment, his cheeks heating up even more.

"Awh. My Noah's blushing. My Noah." He said again, and Noah was sure he was practically beet red at this stage.

Casimir grabbed Noah's face in both hands, pulling it up to face him. He leaned in, planting a big kiss to Noah's forehead.

Noah pushed Casimir away with a huff, trying to seem unfazed. But deep down, he was anything but calm. His heart was pounding out of his chest and the feeling of Casimir's lips on his skin stayed with him, even when Cas pulled away with a smirk on his face and a mischievous glint in his eye.

"You're such a prick sometimes." Noah hugged, crossing his arms like a child.

His sulking face earned him a roaring laugh from Casimir, who found Noah's bad humour absolutely amusing.

This succeeded in embarrassing Noah further, who glared at the ground like a child.

"Hey, no need to get all sulky Noah." Casimir said, pushing Noah's shoulder lightly. "I'm just messing with you."

Noah glared at Casimir, refusing to break the eye contact. They held their stare for a moment, until eventually Noah couldn't help the laughter that escaped him as the crease in his forehead relaxed.

Casimir too laughed, and it wasn't long until the boys found themselves in a fit of laughter, neither of them entirely sure what they were laughing at.

Casimir lay back flat on the ground once he had calmed down, Noah mirroring his movements. They stared up at the clear bright sky, both of them silent save for the occasional chuckle.

Eventually Casimir's eyelids began to droop, and Noah suspected that the heat from the sun and the surprisingly soft ground played a factor in the other boy's drowsiness.

He found himself staring at Casimir's face, drinking in every sharp edge, every freckle, every curve. Eventually he too felt tiredness wash over him, and he rolled back onto his back before closing his own eyes.

He would deal with his parents later, but for now they didn't exist. In Noah's world, all that existed at the moment was him and Casimir, side by side with the sun shining down on them.

Him and Cas, side by side. Oblivious to everything else, everything but each other.